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UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFI E.

HIRAM H. HEDRICK, OFKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

CRUPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,601, dated April 29, 1884.

Application filed February 29, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HIRAM H. HEDRIOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oruppers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to cruppers for harness; and the novelty consists in the construction, arrangement, and adaptation of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Among the desiderata in cruppers may be mentioned, first, the bow having a swelled center, and bent at about an angle of thirtyfive degrees with the plane of the ends which attach to the back-strap second the seam curving with the general contour of the crap per, and always where it will not bear against the animal to irritate or chafe; and, third, the outer covering smooth and adjusted to the shape of the parts where it is to be applied.

0. Various attempts have been made to attain these results, and among the most common, and thus far the most successful, is the method of securing the desired form by pressing or stamping the formed crupper in dies made for this purpose; but in order to give the proper compound curvature to the leather, portions are stretched and strained, and other portions are compressed and twisted 5 and while this form may be secured temporarily, I find that 0 in use, owing to changes of temperature, to

frequent wetting and drying, whether from perspiration of the animal or weather, and to the difierent degrees of moisture to which the different parts are subjected, the leather will partially resume its original f0rm-that is to.

say, the stretched portions will collapse and the compressed portions will give way until the desirable contour is lost, and the device will interfere with the free movements of the ani-- mal and chafe it.

The object of this invention is to present a crupper the material of which is so shaped that when forced into the desired formthe entire area of the said material is subject to auniform strain, and no one part strained at the expense of another part, and one in which the very shape of the blank will assist in holding the formed crupper into the form most approved.

To this end the invention consists, essen tially, in the parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a blank cut from a sheet of leather, and of the form desired to allow the bends and curves to be made in the formed orupper without immoderate and irregular straining. Fig. 2 is a view of the filling-piece.

Fig. 3 is a section to show the arrangement of I parts. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a completed crupper, and Fig. 5 is a detail view showing my manner of finishing the under side to prevent the stitches from exposing and irritating the animal.

Referring to thedrawings, A designates the blank from which the external shell is made n B, the filling-piece, and G the core. I will, for convenience, describe the crupper as made from three leather sheets; but it will be obvious that the quality of the filling ma-. terial may be varied without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention, the essential feature of which lies in the formation and adaptation of the blank A. For convenience also I will refer to Fig. 4 of the drawings and designate the parts of the crupper, when formed, as the swelled how an, the curved shanks m, and the arms m.

The blank A is formed of the shape shown in Fig. 1-that is to say, with an enlarged body, a, which forms the swelled loop or bow m, the curved portions a, which go to make the curved shanks 'm, and the portions a which form the arms m This form, when vice has been pressed by the dies to give the properly arrived at and the edges stitched to- 5 proper finish to the crapper, the very shape I of the external blank will prevent the crapper from losing the desired form.

The core 0 is of oval form, its edges being left of full thickness, except toward the ends, and these edges project and are stitched in with the same stitches that secure the edges of the blank A. The filling-piece B is beveled from the center in all directions, and is of oval form.

Upon the outside of the blank A is formed a crease, f, cut obliquely toward the adjacent edge, and in this crease f are located the stitches f. The action of the dies forces this leather back to cover the stitches and to give a smooth surface.

Instead of the pieces 13 C, the swelled loop may be filled with sand, flaxseed, or bran, as may be desired, the external cover, A, in any event insuring the form and retaining qualities described.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A erupper formed with the swelled bow 25 m, curved shanks m, and arms in, having an external shell made of a single blank, A, of

,leather, cut or formed with enlarged body a,

HIRAM H. HEDRIGK.

\Vitnesses:

G. W. Moncxx, GEORGE M. CLAYTON. 

